Bakoteh Dumpsite, Kanifing, The Gambia
Background and Challenges
The Bakoteh Dumpsite is the largest dumpsite in The Gambia. Originally built outside the city, with continued population growth, residential and commercial development now surround the 18-hectare dumpsite. Dumpsite fires, odors, mosquitos, and public outcry are big challenges for The Gambia’s largest municipality, Kanifing. However, Kanifing has limited funds to build key solid waste infrastructure. Kanifing’s leaders prioritize better solid waste management and have actively built partnerships to begin addressing issues in steps. Their goal is to build a sound, long-term infrastructure to manage solid waste.
Goals: Close the Dumpsite – Plan New Sanitary Landfill with the Kanifing Municipal Council
With no sanitary landfill and an ever-growing urban population, the waste needs to go somewhere. The best and current location is in the unlined Bakoteh Dumpsite. The community routinely penalizes illegal dumping and maintains a solid waste collection vehicle fleet. Donkey carts cover hard-to-reach and slum areas within the urban area. The community’s challenge is catching up on solid waste infrastructure, which starts with a sanitary landfill.
SCS Engineers, in partnership with the Midwest Gooh Group, evaluated the Bakoteh dumpsite and recommended short-term actions and a long-term vision for solid waste infrastructure. The Kanifing leaders now use this vision, developed in over 20 meetings with key community stakeholders and in-person evaluations in June 2019. The solution encompasses the following:
Outcomes and Benefits
Kanifing uses the team’s recommendations to help eliminate short-term challenges to reduce fires, increase revenue, and improve positioning for funding support. SCS continues to help increase awareness of this project through events and associations.
